Mercy stared blankly at the card reader in front of her. No lights or sounds emitted from the machine. It was completely dead.
Located on the ground floor of the hospital, Mercy tried to think of a way to bypass the security room. If something happened to her friends at the hospital, she hoped it was at least caught on the cameras before they went offline. Or better yet, she hoped that the cameras ran on a backup generator of some sort. In either case, it certainly felt more logical than trying to scrounge several stories for the minutest clues to try and piece together. She wanted to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible—before Junior found her, anyway.
Unfortunately, she relented to the idea that she had to explore. Wishful thinking wasn’t opening the door, so maybe some security personnel left their keycard lying about somewhere for her to try and access the place. Or maybe she could pry it open in some way. But her strength was not her forte—even with the boost her staff could provide her.
Mercy took a few steps in the direction of the elevators and looked at her beloved hospital, now in tatters. Unlike the relatively clean streets of Zurich, it was clear the hospital was evacuated swiftly and haphazardly. Stretchers were strewn unevenly across the hallways, notes and extraneous papers covered the desks sloppily, and some janitorial equipment spilt across the floor, creating puddles of soap.
As much as she loved a clean workplace, she could understand the mess. Zurich was flooded with refugees from all over, from the Omnic Crisis that plagued the world. To take care of all these people was, on its own, an organizational nightmare. She could barely fathom what having to evacuate all these people would be like.
She reached the elevators uneventfully. The doors were mostly closed, though one was tilted slightly and left a small crevice where Mercy could put her fingers through.
She took one, hard look around to see if anyone was around. She was followed previously. She had no intention of that happening again.
Nothing.
Mercy stuck both sets of fingers between the two sliding elevator doors and struggled to pry them open. The resistance eventually gave way to a decrepit elevator shaft. Mercy shifted and put her back up to one of the doors to make sure it didn’t retract. She then peered into the mysterious shaft and looked for the actual elevator. Even though the power was shut off, she didn’t want the large, steel transport to fall on her—especially with a lame wing.
The elevator actually turned out to be below Mercy, on the basement level. She gave a sigh of relief as she rotated around so her entire body was now in the shaft; her hands still clinging to the doors to hold them open. Once properly situated, she gently brought her hands together, allowing the doors to close once again.
Darkness consumed her.
The light from her wings sputtered a second before igniting the golden hue. She jumped up and grabbed beams and objects protruding from the vertical hallway. With ease, she made her way up to the next floor.
Just before she could reach the next pair of elevator doors, her right wing sparked and gave out. The imbalance caused her to stumble in the air and slam into the wall. She swiftly reached out and dangled from a metal precipice as her wing continued its damaged rhythm. Mercy raised her foot to be perpendicular with the rest of her body. Though quite difficult in the dark, she was able to wedge her foot in an acceptable foothold for finishing her climb.
A grunt escaped as she pushed herself up to the new set of sliding elevator doors. Balancing on the tip of her boots, she managed to slip through the doors unharmed.
The new floor didn’t fare much better to the first floor. The emergency power had already used up its juice, leaving an eerily silent room with some paper, boxes and some bits of glass strewn across its cold tile. Mercy activated her blue beam and treaded through the dark.
As she inched forward, she passed an old conference room. The door to it was ajar ever so slightly. Mercy put her back up against the adjacent wall and slid next to the door. She gently tapped the door open with her boot and peeked inside.
No Omnics...
...No friends...
Upon closer inspection of the meeting room, she noticed several notes across the floor and on the large table. There was also the secretary’s recorder for documenting minutes. Curious, Mercy quietly shut the door and inspected the recorder.
The data was full and the battery was almost dead, but it had enough juice–hopefully—to get some intelligence on the situation. She selected the last message and hit play.
“Alright, everyone. Thank you for meeting on such short notice,” the hospital administrator announced. “As you all are probably aware, our head surgeon, Dr. Ziegler, has decided to leave prematurely to join Overwatch.”
“Pardon me, but uh, I seem to recall she told you in advance several times that she was leaning toward leaving.” Junior’s voice interrupted. Mercy could imagine him raising his hand awkwardly before interjecting his opinion.
“Who let the preacher in here?” one of the doctors asked.
“I did,” the administrator replied. “He helped her with many patients as a volunteer. I figured he could help us pick up where she left off.”
“No offense,” the annoyed doctor commented, “but we don’t really need another volunteer. You may have helped her with paperwork and other crap, but no one is going to be able to replace our bloody Head Surgeon just like that.” He snapped his fingers for effect.
“I’m afraid he’s right,” another chimed in. “We appreciate what you have done for us and for all these refugees that keep pouring in, but we need medical experts and surgeons.”
“And weren’t you tasked with keeping her from leaving?”
Mercy could hear the frustration in Junior’s voice. “Tasked? Not at all! I was asked to simply bring to her attention the work that needed to be done here. It was still her decision! If the roles were swapped and you were asked to join one of the biggest and brightest organizations on the planet, then would you stay here?”
The room got quiet for a moment before Junior continued.
“Besides, it is not as if she is shirking her duties. Her time at Overwatch will be for the greater good.”
One of the doctor’s laughed. “Greater good, eh? Let me tell you something about the medical profession, Pastor Sceva: ‘greater good’ is simply lingo for boosting one’s career.”
“No, not for Angela.” Junior seemed so confident. It made Mercy glad to call him brother. Especially now, when recent events made her lose confidence in her own self.
“Oh c’mon, pastor! Open your eyes. She’s not as selfless as you think! Her talent is undeniable; the sky is truly the limit for her. But you know that. She knows that, too. And being Head Surgeon doesn’t quite touch the sky, now does it?”
The administrator finally raised his voice. “This bickering gets us nowhere! We don’t have time to cast blame. All we can do right now is find a solution to being understaffed.”
“Actually, Dr. Ziegler handled that, too.” Junior said casually.
Mercy blinked several times in confusion. “I did?” She thought to herself.
“Dr. Ziegler had me contact my brother, Trey, who joined the Crusaders a few years ago, and requested that he come home and bring some medical doctors with him to supplement this hospital’s gap. They should be arriving in a few weeks.”
Mercy scratched her head. She never requested anything like that! Where did he get this information from? Then the truth dawned on her. Junior must have come up with this plan. She remembered him saying something about it in the graveyard before they parted ways. But why give credit to her? Why save her reputation like this?
“Fantastic,” the administrator sighed nervously. “Though I’m surprised Germany would risk giving medics—and a crusader—to us when Omnic forces are terrorizing their own lands.”
At that, Junior remained quiet, much to Mercy’s dismay. She wanted to know the answer to that to. He must have pulled some strings or something! She really wanted to ask him.
“Well, it doesn’t matter now.” The administrator continued. “So folks, we have a few weeks without help, but it is better than nothing. Pastor, please continue to work with Dr. Ziegler’s patients and make sure they are at least comfortable until more doctors arrive. Everyone else: continue your own shifts and let me know if you can spare some more time. We’ll get through this dark time yet. Dismissed.”
“Next time, Pastor Sceva, you should start with that tidbit of information.” And with that, the recording ended.
Mercy felt a knot in her gut. An uneasiness swept over her. She didn’t mean to abandon her home! She had the best intentions...
But there’s an old saying about where the road paved by good intentions leads.
She wanted to hear more, but the battery refused to give any more juice as the screen went dark. Mercy then scoured the room looking for other tidbits of information: notes, batteries, anything!
Suddenly, the ground shook for a split second. Then nothing.
Mercy paused briefly before returning to her search.
Then it shook again.
Curious, Mercy gently opened the door and peered into the hallway. She didn’t see anything.
The ground shook again. The shaking occurred at a lopsided pace. There was no way it could be natural.
An unknown grumble reverberated through the halls. Mercy ducked back inside the conference room as fear of the unknown consumed her. She left the door slightly ajar as she pressed herself against the wall. This didn’t sound like any Omnic she ever faced, nor did it sound like Junior.
The shaking and the grumble got louder and louder. Some of the creature’s shadow pierced through the crevice of Mercy’s door as it passed by. As the creature continued on its way, Mercy carefully pushed the door open, praying that it wouldn’t make a noise.
Sure enough, the door remained silent for the angel as she caught the back of a tall creature in full black crusader armor. Mercy pulled her head inside put her hands up to her face.
Trey, Junior’s younger brother! He was affected, too...
The monster was patrolling—more like limping—down Mercy’s hallway. A few grunts and sounds escaped the possessed Crusader, but nothing deterred him on his route. After waiting for some time, Mercy stuck her head out again and watched Trey turn the corner. A few moments passed before Mercy gathered the courage to continue her journey.
To be as safe as possible, Mercy jumped from room to room, making sure she was not out in the open for very long. In one of the patient rooms she stopped in, she saw some medical tools near the bed. This ignited a rather curious idea.
The security room had restricted access via a security badge. Mercy may have been a doctor, but she was quite tech-savvy when she needed to be. Perhaps she could use these surgical tools to somehow bypass the lock. In any case, it felt like a better plan than wandering aimlessly around, hoping to find a badge. In all honesty, she didn’t particularly feel “lucky” at the moment.
Quickly, she turned her staff upside down and opened a small compartment on the end, where she placed a scalpel, forceps, and some scissors. In the meantime, she wanted to reach the security room and see some camera footage.
Mercy carefully crept out. She watched the floor and made sure not to make any kind of sound. She had worked with a Crusader during her time at Overwatch. She knew their speed, their strength, and just how much force she would need to take one down. The thought of defending herself against one frightened her—let alone one that she saw as a younger brother.
Not to mention that Junior was stronger and faster than she anticipated. If Trey was also plagued in the same manner, did it make him stronger and faster than a typical Crusader?
She reached the second floor lobby area and went back to the elevator doors. She opened them back up, causing them to creak yet again, making her spine shiver as she realized that Trey was probably nearby. She moved with haste once in the elevator. Going down the elevator shaft was unsurprisingly much simpler than ascending, as the lame right wing worked and allowed her to angelically descend to her destination.
As she reached the bottom, she heard a large thud on the second floor elevator doors. A painful, automated groan followed suit. Mercy pried the first floor doors open and bolted through. She ignored all pretense of stealth now as she sprinted to the security room. She knew where Trey was and knew he wouldn’t be far behind. Ideally, the security room had no windows, so she could hide in there easily. She just needed time to get it open.
She reached the card reader next to the unassuming door to the security footage. For a moment, Mercy’s hope faltered. She laid her head on the cold metal door. How could she forget? There’s no power in the building! She would need power to trick the card reader.
A thought entered her mind, returning the glimmer of hope yet again. Her Valkyrie suit! It ran on power. It may be a bit damaged, but she could maybe use it as a temporary power node for the door!
With few options left, she removed her wings from her body and laid them on the floor next to her. Though her suit didn’t need a wire to operate, she could try and attach one. She opened up a part of the convert in her left wing, revealing a small motherboard.
Then, she pried open the side of the card reader and fidgeted around with the wires to see which one went where. When she potentially discovered the power cord—a thick red wire traveling around the entire grid—she gently cut it with the scissors and pulled it out of the box. She then twisted the wire and did her best to attach it to her wing. Sure enough, the card reader came to life.
Mercy smiled coyly then immediately focused on the other wires. She would need to bypass the security and unlock the door. She scanned through the grid, looking at the computer chips each wire was connected to.
Suddenly, the ground near her shook in an asymmetrical manner.
Mercy took one big breath to remain focused and to resist her ever-growing fear. She was close! Her mind raced. After some speedy deliberation with herself, she selected two wires, cut them with the scissors, and crossed them.
Sure enough, the light on the card reader blinked green and made an unnecessary high pitched “Beep!” Mercy cringed at the sound and tried the door’s handle, which freely gave way and allowed Mercy into the room.
The steps of Trey were much louder now.
Mercy frantically yanked the cord from the system and grabbed her tools and wings. She didn’t have time to put them on! With full hands, she rushed and used her elbow to push the handle down as she gently leaned on the door to close the door as quietly as possible. She prayed her position was not revealed. She had no desire to be trapped in here!
Trey’s groan signaled to Mercy that he was right outside the room. His footsteps stopped briefly as he looked at the security room.
Mercy shut her eyes and held her breath. She could hear the uneven and shallow gasps of the Crusader as he stood outside.
After what felt like an eternity, Mercy felt the ground shake as he continued his patrol. Another groan escaped him and got quieter as he slowly limped away from her position. Mercy’s shoulders slouched as she started to relax. She let out a long exhale and began breathing normally.
Currently safe, she went and carefully dropped her items on the computer desk. She then plugged her wings into the back of the main computer and booted it up. Mercy hoped all this external power wouldn’t diminish her wings too much. She still needed them to function properly after all this.
The computer perked up and gave Mercy a message: “This computer did not shut down properly.” Mercy ignored the computer’s request for “safe mode” and accessed the computer regularly. Once the computer gave the angel full control, she started accessing the camera files on the computer. She clicked on several of the most recent and worked her way back until she found what she was looking for. However, as she continued to work backward, her head and heart got more numb. Each day that went by—each week that went by—Mercy felt more and more like a failure.
“Should have come sooner...” she reminded herself shamefully.
After Mercy’s confidence was dismantled and her regret was at its peak, she finally came across a recording that showed Junior and Trey waiting for something. This may be what she was looking for...
Located on the ground floor of the hospital, Mercy tried to think of a way to bypass the security room. If something happened to her friends at the hospital, she hoped it was at least caught on the cameras before they went offline. Or better yet, she hoped that the cameras ran on a backup generator of some sort. In either case, it certainly felt more logical than trying to scrounge several stories for the minutest clues to try and piece together. She wanted to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible—before Junior found her, anyway.
Unfortunately, she relented to the idea that she had to explore. Wishful thinking wasn’t opening the door, so maybe some security personnel left their keycard lying about somewhere for her to try and access the place. Or maybe she could pry it open in some way. But her strength was not her forte—even with the boost her staff could provide her.
Mercy took a few steps in the direction of the elevators and looked at her beloved hospital, now in tatters. Unlike the relatively clean streets of Zurich, it was clear the hospital was evacuated swiftly and haphazardly. Stretchers were strewn unevenly across the hallways, notes and extraneous papers covered the desks sloppily, and some janitorial equipment spilt across the floor, creating puddles of soap.
As much as she loved a clean workplace, she could understand the mess. Zurich was flooded with refugees from all over, from the Omnic Crisis that plagued the world. To take care of all these people was, on its own, an organizational nightmare. She could barely fathom what having to evacuate all these people would be like.
She reached the elevators uneventfully. The doors were mostly closed, though one was tilted slightly and left a small crevice where Mercy could put her fingers through.
She took one, hard look around to see if anyone was around. She was followed previously. She had no intention of that happening again.
Nothing.
Mercy stuck both sets of fingers between the two sliding elevator doors and struggled to pry them open. The resistance eventually gave way to a decrepit elevator shaft. Mercy shifted and put her back up to one of the doors to make sure it didn’t retract. She then peered into the mysterious shaft and looked for the actual elevator. Even though the power was shut off, she didn’t want the large, steel transport to fall on her—especially with a lame wing.
The elevator actually turned out to be below Mercy, on the basement level. She gave a sigh of relief as she rotated around so her entire body was now in the shaft; her hands still clinging to the doors to hold them open. Once properly situated, she gently brought her hands together, allowing the doors to close once again.
Darkness consumed her.
The light from her wings sputtered a second before igniting the golden hue. She jumped up and grabbed beams and objects protruding from the vertical hallway. With ease, she made her way up to the next floor.
Just before she could reach the next pair of elevator doors, her right wing sparked and gave out. The imbalance caused her to stumble in the air and slam into the wall. She swiftly reached out and dangled from a metal precipice as her wing continued its damaged rhythm. Mercy raised her foot to be perpendicular with the rest of her body. Though quite difficult in the dark, she was able to wedge her foot in an acceptable foothold for finishing her climb.
A grunt escaped as she pushed herself up to the new set of sliding elevator doors. Balancing on the tip of her boots, she managed to slip through the doors unharmed.
The new floor didn’t fare much better to the first floor. The emergency power had already used up its juice, leaving an eerily silent room with some paper, boxes and some bits of glass strewn across its cold tile. Mercy activated her blue beam and treaded through the dark.
As she inched forward, she passed an old conference room. The door to it was ajar ever so slightly. Mercy put her back up against the adjacent wall and slid next to the door. She gently tapped the door open with her boot and peeked inside.
No Omnics...
...No friends...
Upon closer inspection of the meeting room, she noticed several notes across the floor and on the large table. There was also the secretary’s recorder for documenting minutes. Curious, Mercy quietly shut the door and inspected the recorder.
The data was full and the battery was almost dead, but it had enough juice–hopefully—to get some intelligence on the situation. She selected the last message and hit play.
“Alright, everyone. Thank you for meeting on such short notice,” the hospital administrator announced. “As you all are probably aware, our head surgeon, Dr. Ziegler, has decided to leave prematurely to join Overwatch.”
“Pardon me, but uh, I seem to recall she told you in advance several times that she was leaning toward leaving.” Junior’s voice interrupted. Mercy could imagine him raising his hand awkwardly before interjecting his opinion.
“Who let the preacher in here?” one of the doctors asked.
“I did,” the administrator replied. “He helped her with many patients as a volunteer. I figured he could help us pick up where she left off.”
“No offense,” the annoyed doctor commented, “but we don’t really need another volunteer. You may have helped her with paperwork and other crap, but no one is going to be able to replace our bloody Head Surgeon just like that.” He snapped his fingers for effect.
“I’m afraid he’s right,” another chimed in. “We appreciate what you have done for us and for all these refugees that keep pouring in, but we need medical experts and surgeons.”
“And weren’t you tasked with keeping her from leaving?”
Mercy could hear the frustration in Junior’s voice. “Tasked? Not at all! I was asked to simply bring to her attention the work that needed to be done here. It was still her decision! If the roles were swapped and you were asked to join one of the biggest and brightest organizations on the planet, then would you stay here?”
The room got quiet for a moment before Junior continued.
“Besides, it is not as if she is shirking her duties. Her time at Overwatch will be for the greater good.”
One of the doctor’s laughed. “Greater good, eh? Let me tell you something about the medical profession, Pastor Sceva: ‘greater good’ is simply lingo for boosting one’s career.”
“No, not for Angela.” Junior seemed so confident. It made Mercy glad to call him brother. Especially now, when recent events made her lose confidence in her own self.
“Oh c’mon, pastor! Open your eyes. She’s not as selfless as you think! Her talent is undeniable; the sky is truly the limit for her. But you know that. She knows that, too. And being Head Surgeon doesn’t quite touch the sky, now does it?”
The administrator finally raised his voice. “This bickering gets us nowhere! We don’t have time to cast blame. All we can do right now is find a solution to being understaffed.”
“Actually, Dr. Ziegler handled that, too.” Junior said casually.
Mercy blinked several times in confusion. “I did?” She thought to herself.
“Dr. Ziegler had me contact my brother, Trey, who joined the Crusaders a few years ago, and requested that he come home and bring some medical doctors with him to supplement this hospital’s gap. They should be arriving in a few weeks.”
Mercy scratched her head. She never requested anything like that! Where did he get this information from? Then the truth dawned on her. Junior must have come up with this plan. She remembered him saying something about it in the graveyard before they parted ways. But why give credit to her? Why save her reputation like this?
“Fantastic,” the administrator sighed nervously. “Though I’m surprised Germany would risk giving medics—and a crusader—to us when Omnic forces are terrorizing their own lands.”
At that, Junior remained quiet, much to Mercy’s dismay. She wanted to know the answer to that to. He must have pulled some strings or something! She really wanted to ask him.
“Well, it doesn’t matter now.” The administrator continued. “So folks, we have a few weeks without help, but it is better than nothing. Pastor, please continue to work with Dr. Ziegler’s patients and make sure they are at least comfortable until more doctors arrive. Everyone else: continue your own shifts and let me know if you can spare some more time. We’ll get through this dark time yet. Dismissed.”
“Next time, Pastor Sceva, you should start with that tidbit of information.” And with that, the recording ended.
Mercy felt a knot in her gut. An uneasiness swept over her. She didn’t mean to abandon her home! She had the best intentions...
But there’s an old saying about where the road paved by good intentions leads.
She wanted to hear more, but the battery refused to give any more juice as the screen went dark. Mercy then scoured the room looking for other tidbits of information: notes, batteries, anything!
Suddenly, the ground shook for a split second. Then nothing.
Mercy paused briefly before returning to her search.
Then it shook again.
Curious, Mercy gently opened the door and peered into the hallway. She didn’t see anything.
The ground shook again. The shaking occurred at a lopsided pace. There was no way it could be natural.
An unknown grumble reverberated through the halls. Mercy ducked back inside the conference room as fear of the unknown consumed her. She left the door slightly ajar as she pressed herself against the wall. This didn’t sound like any Omnic she ever faced, nor did it sound like Junior.
The shaking and the grumble got louder and louder. Some of the creature’s shadow pierced through the crevice of Mercy’s door as it passed by. As the creature continued on its way, Mercy carefully pushed the door open, praying that it wouldn’t make a noise.
Sure enough, the door remained silent for the angel as she caught the back of a tall creature in full black crusader armor. Mercy pulled her head inside put her hands up to her face.
Trey, Junior’s younger brother! He was affected, too...
The monster was patrolling—more like limping—down Mercy’s hallway. A few grunts and sounds escaped the possessed Crusader, but nothing deterred him on his route. After waiting for some time, Mercy stuck her head out again and watched Trey turn the corner. A few moments passed before Mercy gathered the courage to continue her journey.
To be as safe as possible, Mercy jumped from room to room, making sure she was not out in the open for very long. In one of the patient rooms she stopped in, she saw some medical tools near the bed. This ignited a rather curious idea.
The security room had restricted access via a security badge. Mercy may have been a doctor, but she was quite tech-savvy when she needed to be. Perhaps she could use these surgical tools to somehow bypass the lock. In any case, it felt like a better plan than wandering aimlessly around, hoping to find a badge. In all honesty, she didn’t particularly feel “lucky” at the moment.
Quickly, she turned her staff upside down and opened a small compartment on the end, where she placed a scalpel, forceps, and some scissors. In the meantime, she wanted to reach the security room and see some camera footage.
Mercy carefully crept out. She watched the floor and made sure not to make any kind of sound. She had worked with a Crusader during her time at Overwatch. She knew their speed, their strength, and just how much force she would need to take one down. The thought of defending herself against one frightened her—let alone one that she saw as a younger brother.
Not to mention that Junior was stronger and faster than she anticipated. If Trey was also plagued in the same manner, did it make him stronger and faster than a typical Crusader?
She reached the second floor lobby area and went back to the elevator doors. She opened them back up, causing them to creak yet again, making her spine shiver as she realized that Trey was probably nearby. She moved with haste once in the elevator. Going down the elevator shaft was unsurprisingly much simpler than ascending, as the lame right wing worked and allowed her to angelically descend to her destination.
As she reached the bottom, she heard a large thud on the second floor elevator doors. A painful, automated groan followed suit. Mercy pried the first floor doors open and bolted through. She ignored all pretense of stealth now as she sprinted to the security room. She knew where Trey was and knew he wouldn’t be far behind. Ideally, the security room had no windows, so she could hide in there easily. She just needed time to get it open.
She reached the card reader next to the unassuming door to the security footage. For a moment, Mercy’s hope faltered. She laid her head on the cold metal door. How could she forget? There’s no power in the building! She would need power to trick the card reader.
A thought entered her mind, returning the glimmer of hope yet again. Her Valkyrie suit! It ran on power. It may be a bit damaged, but she could maybe use it as a temporary power node for the door!
With few options left, she removed her wings from her body and laid them on the floor next to her. Though her suit didn’t need a wire to operate, she could try and attach one. She opened up a part of the convert in her left wing, revealing a small motherboard.
Then, she pried open the side of the card reader and fidgeted around with the wires to see which one went where. When she potentially discovered the power cord—a thick red wire traveling around the entire grid—she gently cut it with the scissors and pulled it out of the box. She then twisted the wire and did her best to attach it to her wing. Sure enough, the card reader came to life.
Mercy smiled coyly then immediately focused on the other wires. She would need to bypass the security and unlock the door. She scanned through the grid, looking at the computer chips each wire was connected to.
Suddenly, the ground near her shook in an asymmetrical manner.
Mercy took one big breath to remain focused and to resist her ever-growing fear. She was close! Her mind raced. After some speedy deliberation with herself, she selected two wires, cut them with the scissors, and crossed them.
Sure enough, the light on the card reader blinked green and made an unnecessary high pitched “Beep!” Mercy cringed at the sound and tried the door’s handle, which freely gave way and allowed Mercy into the room.
The steps of Trey were much louder now.
Mercy frantically yanked the cord from the system and grabbed her tools and wings. She didn’t have time to put them on! With full hands, she rushed and used her elbow to push the handle down as she gently leaned on the door to close the door as quietly as possible. She prayed her position was not revealed. She had no desire to be trapped in here!
Trey’s groan signaled to Mercy that he was right outside the room. His footsteps stopped briefly as he looked at the security room.
Mercy shut her eyes and held her breath. She could hear the uneven and shallow gasps of the Crusader as he stood outside.
After what felt like an eternity, Mercy felt the ground shake as he continued his patrol. Another groan escaped him and got quieter as he slowly limped away from her position. Mercy’s shoulders slouched as she started to relax. She let out a long exhale and began breathing normally.
Currently safe, she went and carefully dropped her items on the computer desk. She then plugged her wings into the back of the main computer and booted it up. Mercy hoped all this external power wouldn’t diminish her wings too much. She still needed them to function properly after all this.
The computer perked up and gave Mercy a message: “This computer did not shut down properly.” Mercy ignored the computer’s request for “safe mode” and accessed the computer regularly. Once the computer gave the angel full control, she started accessing the camera files on the computer. She clicked on several of the most recent and worked her way back until she found what she was looking for. However, as she continued to work backward, her head and heart got more numb. Each day that went by—each week that went by—Mercy felt more and more like a failure.
“Should have come sooner...” she reminded herself shamefully.
After Mercy’s confidence was dismantled and her regret was at its peak, she finally came across a recording that showed Junior and Trey waiting for something. This may be what she was looking for...